By Lance Plahn.
Over the years headlights on Volkswagen have come under a lot of criticism, Volkswagen did little to improve the situation, by continuing to fit 40/45-watt bulbs. There are a number of improvements that can be made one of the most popular being to fit halogen bulbs that come in an array of sizes, ranging from 55/65 to 90/130 watt. Of course if the reflector is in poor condition, there will be little gain. Good second hand reflectors are hard to find and new ones are expensive. So if you own a 12 volt Beetle, Kombi or a Type three with poor lights and you're looking for a cheap and practical way to improve the lights you may be interested in installing seven inch sealed or semi-sealed beams to which headlight protectors can be fitted.
First obtain a pair of lights (including beams and bases) from a Holden or Ford from the seventies. Before removing your old lights it may pay to mark on the garage wall the position of high and low beams for reference. Now remove the old units and temporarily install a light connecting the wiring and position it so it shines on the reference marks previously made on the garage wall, this will give you an idea where the light has to be positioned. Other points to watch, are to keep the light central of the outside chrome rim, and not to have the light too far forward or back in relation to the outside chrome rim. As you can see it will take a little time to work out where to position the light so the lights can be focussed and also look neat. Having done this you will have to make at least three brackets to hold the light base securely in position. The brackets can be either welded or bolted to the light recess but the base should be bolted to the bracket for service reasons. Later & replacement mudguards already have this facility.
Some thought should be given on how to install park lights, if you install semi-sealed beams these units usually have a small hole in the reflector with a rubber grommet into which a bulb and holder is fitted. To fit sealed beams you have to obtain units which have a small clear section in the reflector then attach the park light to the light base, some of the later Holdens in the seventies had this set up.
Now all that remains is to fit the headlight rims, you may have to trim the adjusting screws to fit the rim or fit rims from a seventy five or later Kombi which do not have adjusting screws in the rim, for a cleaner look. See you on the road!.